Tag Archives: Archetype

Are you engaged in some process that takes a long time yet brings a personal goal to fruition? School can be like that, or now for me, writing for mainstream publication. I find this activity proceeds necessarily sometimes in fits and starts. During the fits or slow slog periods of editing yet one more time, I find it helpful to check in with my internal selves: those archetypal persona character modes that each have their own perspectives on our shared as well as their distinctive goals with regard to the project at hand. For it may be one or more of these Archetype Allies that has slowed the progress as a way to call attention to an opportunity for improvement before I can move forward more productively again.

Mindfulness is a popular term these days for this sort of checking in with your Self–or, more accurately for my purposes, your selves! I like using an Archetype Dialogue Practice to help integrate conflicting internal viewpoints. I use an active imagination technique, such as Jung recommended, to “sink” into a subconscious level of awareness where I can make contact with my internally diverse viewpoints or parts of Self.

You can think of these archetypal personas as being associated with the various roles (or, masks) you occupy in life, as all of us develop somewhat distinctive points of view from the perspectives of each of our role types (e.g. Parent, Teacher, Lover, Nourisher, Idealist, etcetera). You can have a conversation inwardly and/or journal a dialogue while you are imagining connecting with these internal parts of Self. Just allow the interaction or conversation to proceed naturally. This is actually a level of subconscious interaction we take part in unconsciously much of the time, as we weigh a decision or an action.

Below is an excerpt from a journaling form of Archetype Dialogue I engaged with just a few days ago about the slow process of editing for publication:

ELDER LEADER You need to finish the edit and begin taping for the webinar. Time is waning on our sabbatical.

NOURISHER. Let her be, Marshall. She knows what she needs to be doing.

LW: Well I could use all of your input, actually. The editing feels too mechanical now. Taking stuff out is not so much fun as putting ideas into the book. It pains me to have to be removing the lined journaling pages, stripping down to only providing the instructions for library readers to do the techniques externally.

ELDER LEADER. Yes we understand but that is what you need to do, so library readers will not be tempted to write in the books. That’s the editor’s decision. Why are you balking so much?

ARTIST I know what you really want to be doing…and it is what I want to help you with… to redesign the Toolkit as a separate aid that readers will be able to download or receive directly as a workbook companion to the book. The cover art your cousin has provided will fit beautifully with the Toolkit.

LW: Yes but then I also need to get rolling with the webinar production. And a larger than usual docket of classes looms just around the corner in August. Argh!

TEACHER. One step at a time, dear. That is the best way forward. What is the ONE THING, as you tell people to consider with their own life mapping, that YOU need to be doing, Now?

MYSTIC. Yes, dear Soul, what is your ONE THING, NOW?

LW: Well, I want to have a clearer overview of the Whole–of where all this is heading, really. So much work for so many years, and yes we have a publication date, but the whole process feels like it is starting to get away from me, you know? Master, can you help me to re-center, to regain a stronger focus at this interval as I need to deliver these products in full strength and beauty, to best serve the Whole?

MYSTIC Go within to find your answer, dear. What is your ONE THING, Now?

As I continued with this internal musing (a fine expression, by the way!), I did arrive at answers. My new process is to produce both the edit my publisher needs and, concurrently, I will generate the Toolkit from the extracted material. So I do not have to lose any of the vitality I want for the book to contain. As well, this contemplation led me to write a full draft script of the opening webinar sessions, so I feel back on track now!

I invite you to develop your own Archetype Dialogue Practice. I will be sharing a full process for this approach with my upcoming book (March 2018), Your Life Path.

What are some of your own archetypal “parts of Self”? Allow them to present themselves to you. Just offer them a safe, open space for communicating with you. Keep in mind that these are not external “voices” or entities, at all. (If they feel as such ever, then it could be helpful for you to discontinue the exchange! ) These are simply your own INTERNAL points of view that much too often we tend to ignore. So, lend an ear!

November is the month of the Archetypal DESCENDER. It is interesting that this Archetype is associated with a phase preceding the onset of Winter, a time of hibernation either literally or figuratively for many. I love the DESCENDER Archetype part-of-Self; it is one of my own dominant ensemble Cast members.

Please don’t mistake the DESCENDER for Jung’s notion of a Shadow archetype. Any of the TWELVE UNIVERSAL ARCHETYPES (shown below) can manifest in either Strength (positive) or Shadow (negative) modes of expression.

DESCENDER is s/he who Descends to the depths or to the Core/ Heart of matters. (Often it will be your MYSTIC part-of-Self who brings back UP or re-emerges with that which your Descender unearths or discovers.) Consider our use of language to convey our natural Descender impulses:

Dive Deeply into the Matter

Sink Down

Plunge to the Bottom

Plumb the Depths of a situation

“I need some Down Time”

“I feel Depressed/ Down”

Under the weather

“Let’s Get to the Bottom of this”

At Base Level

This Month of the DESCENDER, I invite you to take time to reflect DEEPLY; to PLUNGE TO THE DEPTHS of one or more situations that deserve your DEEPEST focus and attention. Let’s start with ONE: print out this post and write into the blank space in the CAVE image below (do your own “Cave Art”) ONE THINGyou feel drawn to EXCAVATE or to inspect on a DEEP level. Journal this month about this topic. Dialogue with your DESCENDER Part of Self (I will give you a template later this month for that sort of Active Imagination Archetype Dialogue).

And please, do not be afraid of your DESCENDER. It is not a ‘demon’ or even a ‘dragon,’ though if it has been repressed or denied it does deserve to be LISTENED TO and SEEN. To encounter your DESCENDER, you must only DESCEND; don’t expect It (Her/Him) to come to the Surface but you will find your DESCENDER in a cozy place of repose. Hint: Bring a Mystic Guide with you to encounter and learn from your DESCENDER.

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The role of the Healer is a universal cultural figure, and the relationship between Healer-Patient is likewise universal, though it patterns distinctively in specific cultures. The Western “doctor” with the white coat and stethoscope presents the Healer in a powerful if sterile position, while the dynamic Shaman found in many societies in various forms presents the Healer as a Mediator between the energies of this world and the forces and Spirit beyond the surface reality.

What is YOUR Healer like? This is that archetypal part of your Self that exists within your psyche as a Healing persona. When does h/she step up for you in your life? Do you allow your Healer a vital role in your life or do you suppress your own Healer nature? How can you strengthen this modality of your Self? Perhaps you express your Healer nature more in relation to others than for yourself? Bur s/he is here for You, too!

When we go to visit a doctor or other healing agency we may project our own Healer archetype onto that person, and on the other hand we develop our Inner Healer based on role models we have observed over time. Perhaps we tend to select healers who best mirror our own Healer persona, especially when we like our doctor a lot.

Recently I have had an outer dialogue with a very capable Healer, and I am responding by heeding her advice because I recognize that this advice resonates inwardly and allows my Healer to respond, “finally” (She says!).

If only I had LISTENED more about diet and good nutrition in my younger years, I thought, after receiving the Healer’s advice. So, my advice here for myself as well as others is to call upon your inner Healer and LISTEN to what h/she has to share with you, because h/she wants to help!

To tune into your Healer persona archetype, pay attention when you feel a caring impulse to help another, and draw upon that positive, gentle energy to help yourself too. Last night, for example, my cat Loki needed some loving care because he had overgroomed and scratched himself under the eye. So I trimmed his nails and put some ointment on the wound. Then my dog Sophie got an overgrown nail of her own caught in her long hair, so this morning I trimmed her nails and also groomed her undercoat to thin that. I could feel how my Healer was moved to action, and my pets seemed to recognize this special energy so they allowed me to do what I needed to do for their benefit.

images are from pixabay.com

Have a conversation with a Healer! Whether an outer doctor or other healer, or WITHIN. You can dialogue inwardly with your own Inner healer through active imagination and journaling. This is a very natural and simple process of simply “tuning in”, allowing a dialogue to occur, and Listening.

Just to model the technique, then:

L: Calling Judy!

H: Thank you for hearing that I wanted you to call me that. Nurse Judy, I will be, if you like.

L: OK, Nurse Judy, what would you like to tell me?

H: Now that you are asking, finally!, be very careful with your new diet. Do not allow yourself to overdo even the ‘good’ carbs. The fruit in yogurt, for example, is a No. Listen to myself as you might ‘muscle test’. FEEL your way through to a better health Horizon.

L: I know I need you to be a potent energy in my life from now forward.

H: Yes, dear, it’s about time. But I am with you so please let me be here for you in greater conscious awareness. As the outer Healer advised you recently: “Put yourself first!”

I invite YOUR Comments and Stores!

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Sunday morning I had an interesting dream that I feel relates to the Warrior archetype concept that we are focusing on this month. In my dream I am preparing to take a big journey, to embark upon a transition/ turning point or a move. I have a pet Jaguar, young, all black (sleek, beautiful!), that I load into a large pet carrier in the rear of my car to bring with me on the journey. There is a bicycle in the pet carrier, too, with a rear wheel that spins while I drive, so the Jaguar does not have a lot of free space in there. That’s mainly the dream, except that throughout the night I woke several times realizing I had made part of the dream journey, then went back, and gradually as I was waking I thought I wasn’t tending to the needs of my Jaguar in the rear of the car. In the dreaming itself this did not seem to be an issue, but it was to my waking awareness.

It feels to me that the Jaguar is my Warrior Archetype Ally, in the form of an animus/anima figure. (In my archetypal ensemble cast, I tend to have both masculine and feminine ‘anima’ images; maybe because I am rather androgynous myself.)

(Combine these to see more like my ‘real’ road companion, my pet Shorkie, Sophie)

The spinning bicycle wheel (while I am in motion, driving through the ‘move’) that occupies the same space frame as the Jaguar is a compelling dream image. I guess that may be my Mind, spinning rapidly as I negotiate my way through this upcoming big transition. But my Warrior-Jaguar instinct or intuition is also important for me to rely upon, and to properly care for and attend to. I need the Strength of my Warrior-Jaguar Ally to help me negotiate when I reach my interim destination. (This may be the book deal I anticipate or a choice I may confront about that since the proposal began circulating yesterday.)

It is interesting to be writing this blog during this time as well; sharing about the unfolding process and how archetypal psychology influences my own journey.

Have you had a dream image that may represent your own WARRIOR Archetype Ally? What form does it take? What message does it have for you regarding your life situations?

I invite you to write or speak a list of IDEALIST statements or affirmations you would love to share. As an example here are some affirmations from my own IDEALIST point of view:

“Never Give Up, yet always give UP (Surrender to Spirit and be willing to Accept ITS bounty)!”

“Aim for the Heavens in all you do; you do not have to “nearly die” to get Here!”

“Trust.”

“Honesty.”

“Faith.”

“Dream, and then ACT on your inner Dream Guidance.”

“Sit still and Do Something!”

“There are no strangers; all are cut from the same cloth.”

Now then, all you need to do is take some ‘time out’ and LISTEN! Allow your own highest Ideals to guide you on your journey, day to day and moment by moment. Your IDEALIST will support you always and will remind you of your own highest nature.

So ask yourself:

“What are My highest Ideals?

How can I allow these ideals to steer Me along a more positive life course?

How can my Ideals lead Me to define My Life Dream and to Live My Dream, Now! ?”

Since the Nourisher is associated primarily with the sign of Cancer and the month of July, as we move toward August let’s pause to celebrate Nourisher energy and form. This is a heart energy; a nurturing, supportive form.

Mother Theresa is an example of a person expressing a dominant NOURISHER persona; Julia Child is another. Masculine NOURISHER examples would include St. Francis of Asisi and the Dalai Lama.

To give, to share, to support, to feed, to gently nourish another’s heart or mind or body is a fundamental facet of the human Spirit and of the Universe as a whole.

Allow me also to re-blog this excellent Daily Quote (7/27/2015) as posted by Theresa at Soul Gatherings, from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama:

I want to talk about Peaceful Warriors since I am writing about the Warrior archetype this month. The WARRIOR archetype appears to be so out of balance in so many parts of the world and in so many people these days that I want to emphasize that any archetypal part-of-Self acting ‘alone’ is liable to be out of harmony with the Whole; meaning both the whole of the Total Self System of a person’s archetypal cast, and the Whole of humanity and Life itself.

Dan Millman popularized the phrase “the Peaceful Warrior” in his best-selling book of that title. He speaks of a spiritual warrior, a Mystic + Warrior archetype pairing, at least. I find it pertinent that Millman’s experience was that of an Olympic oriented athlete; he was a gymnast in training when he met his spiritual guide whom he names Socrates in his book. Socrates taught Dan to develop a neutral overview perspective on any situation so as not to be attached to the outcomes or to the results of any action or occurrence. As a warrior-athlete—a highly trained and focused gymnastics competitor—Millman’s goal was to be and to perform at the highest level he could. He competed with himself to achieve highly, even after experiencing a crushing motorcycle accident by which he broke both of his legs not long before a qualifying gymnastics tournament.

So, what is a Peaceful Warrior? Is it an oxymoron? I don’t believe so. It is someone with positive, life affirming goals, a dedication to achieve those, and a balanced attitude about results. Strive to find that CENTER within your Self, and compete from that Center. To do so, you will find yourself manifesting not only a Warrior’s energy, but also that of the Nourisher, the generous Golden Child, the Idealist and/or Artist, and possibly also, the Mystic.

In Strength: protective, courageous, brave, champion of a cause, defender, good strategist, able to rally forces

In Shadow: aggressive, warlike, argumentative, overly competitive

Feminine: e.g. woman warrior, soldier

Masculine: e.g. soldier, fighter

What kind of a Warrior are you? Are you highly competitive in a sport or in gaming activities? Is this a strongly developed, champion sort of role in your life?

Or are you a wounded warrior? Do you sometimes avoid conflict but secretly harbor resentments against those you wish you felt powerful enough to confront?

How do you approach your goals? Are you strategic and proactive, blazing a path to glory? Or would you rather not have goals, preferring to let life happen?

How can you strengthen your Warrior nature, if you feel that might be helpful? Well, what would your Warrior tell you?

“Never turn back; never surrender!”

Reflect on your own Warrior traits; we all have them. When is your Warrior your strong Ally? How can you enlist his or her aid to help you forge forward with your most worthy cause and goals? Also though, do you need to temper your warrior nature when it emerges? Could it be helpful to balance this energy with some of your softer archetypal energies, too? Next week we will look more at how you can establish “archeme constellations” or “clusters” to proceed in a more balanced, holistic manner in all of your life pursuits.

Our February archetype is the Idealist. An AIR energy that MAINTAINS and develops any process, the Idealist pairs nicely with this month’s Life Metaphor of life as A Long and Winding Road.

You can count on your Idealist tendencies to strengthen your motivation to achieve any worthy goal. It is an active, lifting mode; a part of you that—when in Strength—carries you forward in a transcendent, joyful way.

In my own contemplative inner adventures I often actually do encounter especially one Pegasus horse which is a beloved inner companion. She takes me on winged flights of unspeakable beauty. While I don’t necessarily see this dream Pegasus as my Idealist part-of-Self, she certainly is real and animated in my awareness and raises me to a more idealistic state of consciousness about life whenever we connect.

If in Shadow, your Idealist may feel trapped or frustrated by limitations or delays. It may help you to find a way around such apparent confinement by offering an alternate activity or route that bypasses or transcends these illusory bounds.

Remember then to listen, and to ask your Inner Idealist for guidance on your next step (or leap) to a desired destination.

How do you imagine or experience your own Idealist nature? Try answering this question and see what it might evoke for you:

WHEN I GROW UP, I WANT TO BE : ____________________________

I invite you to journal your answer, or engage in an active imagination ‘flight of fancy’!

For those of you following this blog or who have at least read last Tuesday’s post here, I can report that the dialogue with my Healer archetype (which I continued in greater depth in privacy after posting the excerpt) proved very helpful. I was able to take a small but meaningful step in the direction of my own Life Dream! So, I am thankful to the blog, and to you all as a collective “someone” (and as individuals) to share this WITH, for the opportunity to explore my own archetypal reservoir.

This week I have been contemplating the idea of a CONSTELLATION in relation to an ensemble cast of archetypal character modes. Look at this image of Orion, for instance. What makes a stellar constellation more than a random arrangement of stars observed in the night sky? Although it is true that people of different cultures may recognize different constellations more or less, and though of course they will attach different connotations even to shared constellation images, still there is something about a constellation that is like a gestalt, whereby “the sum (total pattern) is greater than the sum of its parts.” I have noticed this in written word forms, too. Think about it; once you rearrange a scrambled word, as in a word game like Scrabble or Words with Friends, doesn’t it just feel better to see the word in its meaningful form?

For example: NAMGAITION becomes “IMAGINATION”; doesn’t that just FEEL “right” and “better” than the scrambled letters?

So then, let’s turn back to our weekly theme of Your Archetype Allies. The example I usually give to help people understand the concept of a “mythic ensemble cast of Archetype characters” is Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz with her ensemble cast of unrealized or non-integrated parts of Self in the form of the Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion (and with Toto as her Animus companion). Notice how as the story unfolds, each of these character shards, as it were, gain strength individually while also gradually forming a coherent unit of archetypal Allies, manifesting fully in the scene in which the 3 (plus Toto) literally don Warrior uniforms and act as a collective, harmonious unit to rescue Dorothy from the Wicked Witch’s castle. Once this well integrated unit is fully assembled, with Dorothy in the Center again, they have the combined strength needed to accomplish their Mission: to dissolve the energy of the negative Witch. Dorothy can then assimilate and convert that negative power to a positive energy, first by taking the broomstick of the Witch of the West and then ultimately by learning to ‘stand in her own power,’ symbolized by the ruby slippers.

Whenever you think of The Wizard of Oz, you think of the ensemble assembly, right? Dorothy does not act “alone.” Even after she returns to Kansas (her “Conscious” domain; I just realized how similar those words are!), we know that her Allies will always be available in her Unconscious (“not in Kansas anymore!”) Land of Oz.

So let’s return to YOUR QUEST: a meaningful goal you aim to achieve that you feel a need to develop Strengths for in order to ultimately pursue and attain it fully. Reviewing the Twelve Universal Archetypes I have presented this week, I invite you to consider what COMBINATION of these Archetypal characters, in either Strength or Shadow trait modes (see Sunday and Tuesday’s posts this week for brief descriptions of their character traits), might form a proper CONSTELLATION of Archetypal Allies which could, by serving together as co-workers with You as the central Self, help you to go after and to realize your Goal?

Below I include an Archetype Wheel. This shows the same Universal 12 Archetypes developed by Dr. Charles and Nin Bebeau (and Debra J. Breazzano, M.A.,LPC) that I will be introducing more formally in LIFE PATHS and that appear in descriptions within Sunday and Tuesday’s posts this current week. This Wheel represents how these 12 primordial archetype figures relate to the four elements (Earth, Air, Fire and Water) and to the three stages of any process (I=origination,II=maintenance and III=dissolution).

What CONSTELLATION or combination of the above Archetype Characters could YOU unite with to form a strong ALLIANCE GROUP that can help you achieve your specific Goal? Please see if you can identify a subset of these 12 Universal Archetype figures that you can enlist to accomplish your goal.

I invite you to journal about, talk about, and engage in active imagination with the individual members of your Archetypal Constellation! Get to know each one, their strengths and weaknesses, hopes and fears, and what they bring to the Assembly that can help you to realize your Goal. You might wish to write a narrative STORY about you and your Archetypal Constellation–like in the Wizard of Oz–that envisions your goal and how your ensemble cast could act together as an ensemble cast to realize your goal or Life Dream!

In Life Paths I will introduce you to an approach to working with your situational Archetypes–based on the twelve universal archetype figures–that can help you get to know yourself better. Archetypal psychology often recommends some form of “archetype dialogue” practice, yet usually this is very immediate, tapping into archetypal impulses a person recognizes in relation to a specific situation or during a specific moment of reflection or repose during a therapeutic session or a meditative practice. Without giving too much ‘away’ in this blog space—especially since the full context of the Life Paths approach is needed in order to utilize the approach to its best advantage as a self-help process—I will invite you to a processual form of Archetype Dialogue Practice that utilizes your own Life Theme-based, or situational, archetypes.

Archetypal impulses are always present beneath the surface of your conscious attitudes and perceptions. And everyone has archetypal impulses or an archetypal architecture of unconscious dimensions of the personality. How can you recognize some of these? Just slow down, quiet the conscious mental stream of consciousness for a bit, and Listen! What subtle attitudes would express themselves if you allowed yourself to give voice to them? Remember, you may ASK! Inquire of your unconscious sub-selves, “What Are You About?” “How do YOU feel about an issue or a decision?” “What do you wish I/we would DO?”

Carl G. Jung understood Archetypes of the Unconscious (e.g. see his book of that title) better than most people, because he allowed himself to make contact in a direct way with his own unconscious personae. His posthumously published THE RED BOOK (2009) is a transcript of Jung’s own journal chronicling his intentional Journey into the depths of his own unconscious domains. For an initial consecutive series of 19 evenings (and continuing on and off for 16 years thereafter) Jung practiced a gentle form of ACTIVE IMAGINATION, a form of meditative, active contemplation, to “sink” into his own unconscious, imaginative realms in order to explore the otherwise ‘buried’ internal spaces and persons of his Psyche. I have read THE RED BOOK (except for the original German), and I recommend it highly! As Sonu Shamdasani, the editor of The Red Book notes, Jung encouraged his therapeutic clients and friends to compose their own ‘red books’: their own Journals in which they would record encounters with their archetypal denizens of the unconscious, through dreams and active imagination.

Let me offer a basic approach to beginning a form of archetype dialogue. First review your Life Themes. These are the KINDS of events or situations represented by your set of Significant Life Events or shaping events. An earlier post allows you to reconstruct these (use this site’s Search engine for Life Themes), or simply make a list now of some of the most significant shaping events of your life, events that have “shaped the person you have become.” After composing your list, review the events and SORT each event into a category of KINDS of shaping events. These categories are your LIFE THEMES, recurring kinds of events and situations that weave through your life and make of your life a dramatic story!

Now then, reflect on your set of LIFE THEMES (e.g. Work, Romance, Spirituality, Travel, etcetera) in relation to the ARCHETYPAL TWELVE presented below (see Friday, 8/15/14 post for discussion):

ELDER LEADER ARTIST TEACHER

LOVER IDEALIST COMMUNICATOR

WARRIOR GOLDEN CHILD HEALER

NURTURER DESCENDER MYSTIC

For now, just by using the descriptive character names of these twelve archetypal figures (tables of traits will be presented in Life Paths), try to associate at least one ARCHETYPE with each of your Life Themes. For example, a Romance theme might be associated with a LOVER archetype, or a Family theme might relate to NURTURER or ELDER LEADER. Each archetype could pertain to masculine or feminine traits and could be in either a positive or Strength mode, or in a negative, Shadow mode.

Once you have identified ARCHETYPES with your own set of recurring LIFE THEMES, try starting an imaginative dialogue with one or more of these Archetype figures. Start with active imagination if you can; close your eyes, center yourself in a quiet space, and envision one or more of these Archetypes as if they are characters that inhabit your unconscious. Start a conversation. When you come out of your reverie, write down what you can of the conversation, or simply generate the dialogue as you compose it directly in your journal.

Let your initial exploration of archetypal impulses through archetype dialogue journaling be of a light, general form. Just start by getting to know these parts of self; aspects of your Self that show up in your SOCIAL ROLES that are activated as you experience recurring LIFE THEME events or situations. Simply visit with and/or invite your unconscious archetypal characters to dialogue!

Here is a hypothetical sample:

L: I invite my archetypes to introduce yourselves to me and to each other. Who is there?

A: You can do it, Linda!

L: Who is this?

A: You might call me NURTURER. I support you; don’t give up!

L: Sometimes, honestly, I almost think I should.

B: Stay true to your Mission. Get yourself out of the Way.

L: Mystic?

B: Okay, if you like. …Remember, this is what you are here to do, there is no turning back. Remember you have the Response-ABILITY to Realize your Dreams, not just for Getting By.

L: Thanks for the reminder. I need ALL of your support. Speak up whenever you feel you want to or need to.

To Readers: I have been using this form of Archetype Dialogue already for several years. I find it a very natural and helpful way to “Tune In” to my own unconscious attitudes and perspectives that I might otherwise ignore or “bury”. This is a simple imaginative technique anyone can use. These perspectives are not OTHER than or OUTSIDE from yourself. They ARE You, just different dimensions or facets OF your personality structure. So these are not outside “entities” or “demons” you are inviting; if by any means something very “other” seems to manifest itself, by all means end your session and close your journal! Indeed some of these inner aspects might have some negative feelings or attitudes to express; welcome this in order to hear and understand those feelings, but be clear from when you start your dialogue that the dialogue field is a SAFE SPACE. If you like, you can begin by calling on your own positive Spiritual Guides to maintain a protective inner environment. If you are currently engaged in a psychiatric or therapeutic treatment program, I recommend for you to share this with your analyst or therapist before proceeding.

If you like you can artistically represent any archetypal encounters or insights or perspectives you gain from this imaginative practice. Jung used artistic creations, especially Mandalas, to represent his archetypal experiences. (You can see some of these at the Amazon site linked to for THE RED BOOK, above). After every session of active imagination, Jung painted something about the experience to represent the purpose or meaning of that archetypal experience in his life.

Can you think of an issue about which you are conflicted or undecided, for which you can express “two sides” of the situation? E.G. whether to move or to stay with a job or to change a relationship? Or do you have a “personal conflict” over some area of your life that persists through the years without clear resolution?

When you have opposing viewpoints within yourself around an issue that is important to you, it’s as though you are two or more people about that. Here, we are talking about what Carl Jung and many others since have called Archetypes. These are submerged viewpoints, your ‘inner voices’ that might feel at odds with each other about how you should approach something. James Hillman would say these various archetypal aspects of your Self are in your “Personal Unconscious”, and Jung would say we have even deeper sorts of archetypes in our “Collective Unconscious” that are universal.

As an anthropologist I take a practical approach as well as a “depth psychology” approach to archetypal character guises and traits. We all take on various ROLES in our lives that are associated with various STATUSES. These can include kinship statuses and roles (like Mother or Child, husband and wife) as well as occupational and recreational roles, like Doctor and Golfer. Each of these personal ROLES is associated with specific kinds of SITUATIONS we engage in regularly. And each of these brings out deep archetypal—not just formal ‘status’—aspects. Considering various Themes, or KINDS of situations in our lives, each Life Theme may be associated with archetypal character dispositions. For example, ROMANCE might bring out the Lover in You, whereas EDUCATION may bring forth your Teacher and/or Student “parts of Self”, and SPORTS or MILITARY SERVICE might bring forth the Warrior. Each of these “situational archetype” parts-of-self has their own ‘character’ presence in your unique assemblage of archetypal outlooks. Some are deeply buried or suppressed (e.g. some may be in “Shadow” mode), while others may be more actively integrated within your conscious personality.

The Life Mapping activity for this week’s topic about Attitudes asks you to write or to imagine a DIALOGUE with two opposing viewpoints—both your own—around a topic you may feel conflicted or “dual” about. It can help to get these divergent sides talking to one another about a situation you are trying to better understand or resolve, especially if leaving it unresolved keeps you “stuck” about that issue.

Let me share an example from my Life Mapping cases. Mindy was a woman who had been experiencing a persistent dilemma for many years. In the course of life mapping she identified two Archetypal outlooks that she associated with a spiritual aspect—she called this her inner Warrior—and a Physical-life side of self, which she called her Descender. Around some of the same issues in her life, her Warrior-mystic and her Descender modes were at odds. Her Warrior wanted to follow inner spiritual nudges: make a move, take or end a job, accept a relationship. Her Descender, though, hated to be pinned to any decision. Mindy journaled a dialogue between these two archetypal parts of self. She found that one value was important to both of them: Freedom. But they each defined freedom in diametrically opposite ways! The Mystic thought freedom was about following inner nudges of spirit; it was “Spiritual Freedom”. The Descender wanted Freedom from commitments! So, for many years, Mystic-Mindy would boldly step forth and change locations, jobs or relationships. But almost immediately thereafter, Descender-Mindy would want to bolt; to leave that location, job or relationship. When Mindy put the two to talking with each other over a couple of weeks in her journal, they/she came to recognize how these opposing, archetype-driven points of view were interfering with her ever establishing a STABLE set of conditions. So she started asking them about their goals and she found some they shared. She needed a job, for instance, with built in variety and flexibility. Now Mindy has become a successful public speaker for a health supplements company she believes in. She gives workshops on various products and travels around the country. Both her Mystic and her Descender selves are happy, for once! Mindy has embraced and ‘integrated’ more of her total Self.

Writing an archetype dialogue allows you to tap into aspects of yourself you might otherwise suppress. Offer a “safe space” to these feelings and viewpoints, knowing that your core Self will remain strong and centered throughout the exchange. Just as an example to get you started, let me illustrate briefly. I call this approach: “Open Mike”. Just set a topic about which you have dual or multiple ‘attitudes’, and invite your various situational selves to speak. If you’re not sure what topic to introduce, ask ‘them’ to suggest one for you!

Open MikeTopic: My currently overburdened schedule

This is crazy! How can we keep this up? You are going to collapse at this rate.

(Self in italics) Who are you?

Someone who wishes you would lighten up a bit…

A Nurturer, I believe.

Yes. You do need to give yourself some time to relax, dear. Breathe. Go to the gym. Read a Maeve Binchy novel; I want to!

I know but there is just so much to do. I have bitten off so much this semester…

This Life, don’t you mean? I am with you and want to see you reach your goals, too, Lindy, but she is right; you need to add some balance. Trust that you will get what you need to get done even better when you accept your time limitations.

Are you an Elder Leader?

No, a Communicator.

Thanks for all you contribute; all of you, too.

Nurturer: So what are you going to do to ease up a bit?

I will do what I can…feel free to nudge me when you see an opportunity for me to open a novel or take Sophie for a walk.

[This is just an example of how to begin an Archetypal “Open Mike” dialogue. It is helpful to have a journal dedicated to this exchange. Explore many topics; get to know these ‘parts’ of yourself that are always within you and can help you reach your Dreams! Use whatever names you want for these; in Life Paths I will be introducing a specific ‘pantheon’ of 12 universal archetype figures based on Jung and on the works of a lesser known archetypal psychologist, Dr. Charles Bebeau-LW]

The Innocent. As a character type—what Jung or Hillman call an Archetype—the Innocent is most often a child. Since we have all experienced, to a greater or lesser extent, the innocence of being a child, then we each carry this Archetype of the Innocent Child within us.

In Life Mapping I coach people to identify and name their Life Chapters leading up to the Present. Almost always, people name their earliest Life Chapter as something on the order of “Innocence”: a time of relative calm and joy preceding the Storms of life.

By a random review of a set of 9 Life Maps, 7 of their first Life Chapter titles reflect an innocence theme: “Innocence”(2); “Childhood & Youth” (2); “”Well Loved/ Happy”; “Pure Joy”; and “Oblivion”. The other two, I should note, refer to situations involving childhood trauma or abuse.

What was your earliest Life Chapter? To identify it, first think about your earliest major, pivotal life event, before and after which you feel that you were “not the same person”. Then think about the time of your life BEFORE that, between your birth and that first major turning point. As the author of your own Life Story, what title would you use to describe your early childhood?

If your first Life Chapter was not so bright and Innocent, how did that eventually get resolved, if it has been? Is there an Innocent you that was suppressed then?

If your early childhood was a time of relative Innocence (or if you can identify within yourself that archetype-Child who was suppressed), can you feel that Child archetype within you Now? What is she or he like? What does s/he–that part of you–love? How do you like to play, as your Innocent Child? Who is/was your BFF?

How can you best listen to, hear, and nurture your Innocent Child archetype today? Let him or her be a part of your conscious persona, because s/he is there regardless.

To be in better contact with your Innocent Child part-of-self, you might try DOING something you enjoyed most as that Child. Climb a tree? Go to a petting zoo? Sing a lullaby that your Mom or Grandmother once sang to you?

You can even write a dialogue in your journal—or have an active imagination encounter—between your Adult self today and your Innocent Child within you. I invite you to open your Heart to this inner part of yourself. You might be amazed—and even amused—by all s/he can show you!

On Tuesdays I share a personal story to illustrate our weekly topic, and this week’s topic of Significant Life Events brings up many possible stories. I would love to share about my travel adventures, since these have been very positive, lifting events in my Life Story. Instead, though, I will share about the origins of a situational social anxiety, because I want to document how early Significant Life Events can have a lasting, dramatic impact and about how understanding that influence can also help to manifest Better Endings.

Every year for at least between when I was 12 and 17, my parents held an annual Christmas party. My father was an executive at Bell Aerosystems, so he staged this annual party for his professional colleagues. I, my three sisters, and my brother until he left for college when I was 14 were required to stay home on the night of the annual Party. We were paraded downstairs to the entry foyer once most of the guests had arrived, for brief introductions, then we were promptly sent upstairs to watch TV in my parents’ room for the duration of the Party.

Some aspects of the Party night were fun for us kids. We would plot a foray down to the kitchen island to nab plates of my Mom’s most wonderful chocolate meringue pie, and I was usually the scout and the procurer of pie. But the Party had its dark side as well, one that deepened from year to year. Let’s just say that since alcohol was freely flowing at the Party downstairs, we kids would have to keep raising the TV volume to try to drown out the increasing crescendo of conversations below that would ultimately coalesce into some loud altercation or another before the night was through. Then afterwards, once the guests had left, invariably my parents would collide over some issue that had surfaced at the Party. One next early morning, my sisters and I woke groggily to see my father dragging his full-sized bed down the stairs and into his den; it stayed there for the next several months. That day, Mom had a blackened eye, and Dad’s face was striated with three lengthy scratch marks. You get the picture.

Flash forward to my own later professional career. I am always warmly invited to the annual departmental Christmas party, held at a much respected colleague’s home. I attended the first few years, until one time, someone I was having some issues with, also attending, stringently avoided friendly contact. The next year, I aimed to go. I bought Belly Jellies to share and sat in my living room recliner counting down to the appropriate time to depart. I continued to sit, well past time to have left, for another hour or so, pinned in my recliner, until finally I called my older sister, Lee, for moral support. I had experienced a genuine panic attack over the very thought of attending the Party. And from then til now–the Party recently having come around and passed again–even though I genuinely like and highly value every colleague and the students I work with, I have not attended a single instance of the annual Party since. After many years of kicking myself and offering fervent apologies on the following Mondays, I have finally come to examine and name my situational anxiety for what it is. I have come to a better understanding not just of its roots–that much seems obvious–but also of why, as a rational adult, part of me is still so adamant that this one thing–the professional Party–I shall not do.

In fact, this situational anxiety has become a solid proof for me of the reality and value of Archetypal Psychology, a la Carl Jung, James Hillman, and Charles and Nin Bebeau. I have become acquainted with two “parts of Self” within me that together conspire to absolutely shun the annual Party. One is an Elder Leader archetypal persona, one to whom I have unconsciously assigned final say when he asserts himself so strongly as to put his foot down. The other is “Little Linda’, an overly sensitive early childhood figure who prefers much of the time to stay alone, from an array of early childhood social hurts. I know that the archetypal Elder Leader member of my ensemble cast of inner characters, or Inner Council, has a purpose in forbidding me from attending the Party; he is protecting me (and Little Linda and himself, no doubt) from potential conflict and emotional injury.

Surely there is more to this avoidance behavior. I am single while most at the Party are not. I don’t drink alcohol at all; they likely will, evoking my childhood inhibitions from my parents’ annual festivities. But I have come to accept and to value and appreciate the wisdom of my Elder Leader protector, which may be the closest to a Better Endings scenario I will be able to achieve, at least for now. I have let my colleagues know not to expect me, and they are goodhearted about that although this antisocial tendency surely does not go unnoticed. I no longer pretend to myself that I will finally make it ‘this year’. Well, sometimes I still do try but after the time for leaving again has come and passed, I no longer beat myself up over it. Lately I might even journal a dialogue or converse inwardly with my Elder Leader, acknowledging his concern and thanking him for his care. And so, while this might not seem to many to be yet the ideal solution, it has taught me to listen to and to include my Inner Council in my outer decisions. I am no more, nor less, ‘multiple’ than any of us are. Different situations can bring forth otherwise subtle or submerged parts of Self that help us to cope with or to master whatever it might be that the situation calls for. Significant Life Events often have their most obvious impact upon recurring kinds of situations in our lives.

In order to Live Your Dream, Now! you must know what that Dream is, and set a Vision for your adventurous quest. This week’s Life Mapping prompt, “When I Grow Up I Want to BE…” allows you to seek a Vision and also helps you orient to the character traits you are aiming to develop.

When my sister was 8, she answered the proverbial question of what she wanted to be when she would grow up with delight: “a Bunny Rabbit!,” she replied. She is 55 now, a highly successful CPA and the primary family caregiver for our elderly mother, and she is much like a Bunny Rabbit, to me, in several ways. She is bright, cheerful, extremely productive, and at the same time she is sweet, friendly, and quite engaged with friends, family, work group and community; hopping about her many-dimensional life activities with cheerful skill. Like a Rabbit, she is an Idealist and a Nurturer.

Compare how you might have answered this question as a child, and then Now. Did you want to become a Superhero who saves the world and then studied to be a Doctor or became an Emergency Vehicle driver–or a writer about such characters–who saves lives? Did you want to be like Mother Theresa and now you are or aim to be a Teacher or a Healer or a nurturing mother? All of these kinds of persons or roles are character Archetypes.They represent significant aspects of your psychological personality makeup, whether you actively express them in your job or family life or they remain submerged ‘inner voices’. Like Walter Mitty in the new film being released, we all have multiple aspects of self with their own traits, goals, and fears. In the Life Mapping process I call these archetypal parts of Self your “ensemble cast of mythic characters”.

Like the characters aligned with Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, your inner and outer archetypes each have their own needs and hopes and goals. Your opportunity, if you choose to accept it on the Yellow Brick Road of creating Better Endings in your life, is to befriend these parts of your own Total Self System, to get to know them so you can enlist their Strengths in assisting you to realize your greatest Life Dream. Because ultimately, they share this goal with you and fuel its vitality.

In the Life Maps Process which I will share in its entirety with my upcoming book and self-help handbook, LIFE PATHS, I will provide you with a complete “Archetype Mapping” process and with a six-step “Archetype Dialogue Process” to help you to identify and come to understand and develop your own archetypal Inner Assembly. I will introduce twelve “primordial archetype” figures that everyone can relate to. For this Blog version of Life Mapping practice activities, it is enough to consider what sorts of character traits show up when you answer this week’s prompt: “When I Grow Up I Want to BE…”. Go ahead, make a list of possible answers and beside each one, identify the character strengths or traits you are tapping into with this response. Just by way of example below, I will list some possible ways I might answer the prompt myself:

(2) God-Realized during this lifetime (ok, this is no small dream!) — [developing Mystic and Healer traits].

Carl G. Jung stated in his major work on Archetypes that: “For every typical situation in life, there is an archetype corresponding to that situation.” The situational roles that you gravitate to, or that you enact day to day–like being a teacher or a writer or a nurse or a spouse or a nurturing parent, or any role at all–each invoke qualities which you inherently choose to express. As a cultural anthropologist, I recognize our everyday roles and statuses as basic frames which call upon these archetypal dispositions, so you do not need to believe in or invoke a mystical or metaphysical approach to accept Jungian archetypes as very basic to our social makeup as well as to our psychology.

Of course, not all archetype energies or traits are positive or fully developed as Strengths. Some may be in Shadow mode and in fact they can pull you down or hold you back from facing your fears or from going after your deepest goals and Life Dream.

In a later Life Mapping activity I will share in this Blog, I will provide a Meet Your Archetypes journaling activity. For now, reflect lightly on your various situational parts of self or alternative goals and perspectives on life. Next week I will coach you to actually start mapping the sorts of situations in which your personal ensemble cast and crew are already actively engaged.

———————

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2018 — A Year of Exploring Your Life Themes

This year at Better Endings for Your Life Path we are exploring Life Themes. Life Themes are those recurring types of situations in your life that together weave the primary narrative threads of your Life Story. Each month we will explore one of twelve Life Themes commonly discovered with Life Path Mapping. See the menu tab “Monthly Topics” for the month’s Theme. I also encourage you to list your own Life Themes and explore them as they seem relevant for you to the monthly Themes.

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A New Year of Better Endings for YOUR LIFE PATH!

2017 is a year of HEROIC ADVENTURE with this blog, as we will explore THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME. Every month we will focus on one phase--as a cycle within a larger cycle--of the Human Adventure, basing these phases on 12 of the stages Joseph Campbell has identified in the "Hero's Adventure Cycle," from THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES, 1949. (See the Monthly Process menu tab for each month's theme and weekly process.)